Skulduggery Pleasant:The Last Revenge
by winchesetr
Summary: Skulduggery and Valkyrie are the top best crime-fighting, magic wielding duo detectives. But when Skulduggery goes missing, it's up to Valkyrie to find him before it's too late. Enemies are everywhere, and not everyone might live this time.
1. All's Well That Ends Werewolf

Author's Note: So my friend got me into reading Skulduggery Pleasant, and I fell head over heals in love. So I wrote this story. I haven't read Death Bringer yet, so please no spoilers. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Did I forget anything? (Checks desk, cluttered with papers for the next Skulduggery Pleasant novel) Oh right! Disclaimer: I am NOT Derek Landy, as much as I wish I was. I am only a fanfiction writer who loves witing(Duh!) and enjoy putting characters in novels through situations that she made up. Thanks!

The February night was icy and as dark as coal, as a man dressed in a well-tailored suit and hat walked silently down the street. A few blocks behind him, a teenage girl with midnight hair followed, just as silent, through the maze of alleyways. The man paused at the corner, crouched down and beckoned to her to hurry up. She reached him and knelt down, eyes flickering at the shadows along the sidewalk, watching warily for something.

"I don't know Skulduggery, something seems off. It's too quiet." She whispered. He nodded in agreement, but his attention was focused on what was around the corner.

"There's the apartment. The murderer probably has a trick up his sleeve, so be on the lookout." He said casually, standing gracefully up.

"What's the plan?"

"What plan?"

"The one that tells me what to do when we get there!" The girl said in an exasperated tone.

"Oh that plan."

"Yes?"

"I don't have one."

With that, the Skulduggery walked swiftly across the street. The girl followed him, anxiously rubbing the black ring that lay ice-cold on her finger. She stopped outside the apartment, taking in the grimy walls, spray-painted with the names of gangs, the shattered windows, barred with iron, and absence of anything green. On the corner, a lone streetlight flickered faintly. She got a distinct feeling that something was watching them with malice, as the hairs on the back of her neck pricked up. With one last quick glance around, she hurried inside to find Skulduggery. He was on the second floor waiting patiently for her.

"Enjoying the view out there, were you?" He was grinning as he teased her.

She glared at him. "Can we get this over with? Something's giving me the creeps."

"I agree. Ladies first?"

"Actually, I prefer the person who has the gun to go first."

Skulduggery smiled and cautiously opened the door, gun at the ready. Inside, the room was a mess, clothes strewn across the floor, some in bags. Newspaper clippings were everywhere, talking about murders, murders, and more murders. .

Skulduggery looked around "He's not here, but we should search for evidence anyway."

"Does this guy have an ego or what? He's clipped out everything talking about the murders he committed." The girl replied, ruffling through some of the clippings. She turned toward Skulduggery. "I got nada."

"Same here. Come on, let's go."

"Kay."

The girl followed Skulduggery back out of the apartment, to the desolate street they had started on. Something still seemed off to her, but she couldn't place it. She walked faster, and Skulduggery followed her lead, sensing the same thing she did. They didn't care about silence now as they left, and because of that the girl didn't hear the creature following her preparing to attack.

Her shock absorbent outfit protected her from the hard and icy pavement – lessening the blow when something whipped out and hit her from behind. None the less, the blow was enough knock her off balance and send her sprawling, slamming her head against the grimy building. In the fraction of a second it took for her to get hit, Skulduggery had already rolled and whipped out his gun. An icy roar blew his hat off, revealing the skull, not skin, that lay beneath. He fired three bullets, each hitting the creature with a satisfying thud, and by then the girl had already gotten to her feet.

The creature roared again and came out of the shadows it had hidden in. It was huge, a solid wall of muscle and black matted fur. It stood on two legs the size of tree trunks and was heavily built. But its face was its most terrifying aspect. One eye was red, the other yellow, and a jagged scar stretched through the lower half its face. Then the scar opened revealing jaws filled with teeth, filed to sharp points. And it was mad. The bullets wouldn't kill it but they did hurt it.

The girl ran to where the skeleton was crouching and helped him up. She snapped her fingers and kindled the sparks that were created into two balls of flame. Skulduggery followed suit, holding his gun in one hand. The air was alive with tension as both sides waited for the other to strike first. After a minute of standstill, Skulduggery spoke.

"Come on Valkyrie, let's give this monster a run for its money." The skeleton said, with mischief in his voice.

The monster roared again, and this time a hoard of answering roars followed his. Three more creatures leapt threateningly out from behind the far street corner. Though not as large as the first, they were still menacing. Growling, they stalked forward.

"Uhh…Skul?" Valkyrie said in a tiny voice. "Ugly here's brought company."

"I can see. Forget what I said before about fighting." Skulduggery said in a quiet voice. "Run on three. One. Two. Run!"

They sprinted through the neighboring alleys, and back to where the Bentley was parked. The monsters chased them for a while giving up only when the pair sprinted down an alley to narrow for them to pass through.

"What ever happened to 'three'?" A breathless Valkyrie asked when they were seated and buckled in the car. Skulduggery drove out of the alley and onto the lit road before answering.

"It got eaten by a pack of werewolves." Skulduggery replied.

Valkyrie paled. "Is that what those creatures were?"

Skulduggery nodded slowly. "I haven't seen them for a while."

"So what are we going to do about the murderer? He must have escaped."

"I have a feeling the werewolf was the murderer. A highly dangerous one too. He knew we were coming, so he evaded us until the full moon so that he and his turned would be able to catch us off guard." Skulduggery snorted.

"Well, it worked."

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

Valkyrie turned her body away from the window and crossed her arms, frowning."What's your problem? We escaped alive. Well, in my case at least."

"I had to leave my hat."

There was a moment of silence as Valkyrie digested this information.

"Your hat? Really Skulduggery?" Valkyrie was trying hard to suppress the laugh in her throat. She was failing miserably and Skulduggery glared at her.

"Yes, my hat! Do you know how much it cost? It was a good hat! Very fine leather!" Skulduggery grumbled indignantly.

"Can't Ghastly just make you a new one?"

"You're missing the point of my ranting!"

Still laughing she changed the subject. "Okay! Okay! Can you drop me off at Gordon's?"

"I was planning on heading there anyways. I recall him writing a book on werewolves and I think it would be useful to have the information when we go up against them again."

"What?"

Skulduggery glanced over at her, the black holes where his eyes had been boring into her. "You can't assume they'll stop hunting us." he said turning his focus back to the road, "After all they got my hat."

"Stop grumbling about losing it."

"I'm not. If I know one thing about werewolves, it's that they'll stop at nothing to find you after they have something that was very dear to you, in my case, my hat."

"Then what's to stop them from attacking us now? They could be following us, ready to kill us!"

"The moonlight's waning, it's almost dawn. Like vampires they shed their skin in daylight, and assume human form, but retain some of their strength and speed. They'll wait at least till tomorrow before attacking. The full moon ends in two days."

"Oh."

They sat in the car in silence for a while, the only sounds being Valkyrie's breathing and the smooth sound of tires on pavement.

"You can fall asleep if you want. It's been a long day and I know you're tired." Skulduggery said gently.

Though she wouldn't admit it, she was tired.

"Thanks" She mumbled as she curled up on the seat, asleep as soon as her eyes closed.

Authors Note: Good? Not Good? Utter Failure? Bloody Brilliant? To be continued or not to be? Hope you liked it! Chapter Two and Three up soon! Thinking about expanding this chapter a bit, it's a little fast paced.


	2. The Truth Behind Myth

A/N: (Singsong voice) I'm back! Couldn't get rid of me that fast. Oh, Sanguine, yeah I uh... kind of uh... hit him with a baseball bat. Guilty *shrugs*. But Billy-Ray here's alive. I mean what kind of person sends an assassin to murder a fanfic writer? Anyway, I tied B-R Sanguine to a chair while I wrote the next chapter. Two chapters in one day, and the third tomorrow! I'm on a roll. Well, I better let Billy-Ray here go before Tanith comes and murders me. Obviously, I am not Derek Landy, otherwise I'd have a LOT more of Billy-Ray in the books. So, without further ado, I present the one and only Second Chapter!

It seemed like it had been only minutes since Valkyrie had closed her eyes that Skulduggery was shaking her awake again.

"We're here." he murmured.

"I can see that." Valkyrie yawned and stretched, drowsily unbuckling her seatbelt and stumbling out on to the drive way. Her feet, clumsy with sleep, tripped her, almost sending her falling before Skulduggery caught her. He held the front door open and led Valkyrie to the couch.

"What?" She slurred, "I thought I was going to help you search for information."

"Right now, I'm afraid you'd be a safety hazard going up the stairs."

"I can handle myself, thank you very much!" She said indignantly.

"It's not your safety I'm worried about. If you're not careful, you could break the stairs." Skulduggery replied smirking.

"Well, gee, thanks for the consideration."

Assuming defeat Skulduggery strode confidently out of the room as Valkyrie glared daggers at the back of his suit. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She **was **a safety hazard at the moment. She sighed. It was a sigh mixed equally with exasperation, tiredness, and rebelliousness. She wanted to do something to help, but since she couldn't she might as well rest. Valkyrie lay down on the couch, curling up into a ball, like she used to do when she was a small child. She lay quietly and listened as Skulduggery stepped swiftly up the creaking stairs and into Gordon's study, to get the echostone from it's shelf in the hidden room. Her thoughts roamed from the werewolves, to Skulduggery, to her Reflection. She briefly wondered what had happened at school. Not for the first time, she was glad she had chosen to follow this path in life, but for the first time, she did wonder if she was missing out on something.

She shook the thought away as Skulduggery came into view. His arms were filled with books, the echostone perched precariously on top, wobbling ever so slightly, like it was going to topple and crash to the floor. Valkyrie jumped up from the couch and snatched it before Skulduggery could walk a step further, the images of it falling and shattering into a million pieces filling her mind.

"I had it under control." Skulduggery said, slightly offended by the seething look she was giving him. He tripped on the edge of the rug, and the books he was carrying flew everywhere. Valkyrie raised one eyebrow in disbelief, and started picking up the fallen books.

"Well, mostly under control." He admitted with a shrug.

"Let me guess. The rug tripped you, and sent the books flying."

"Did I ever mention how much I hate sarcasm?" Skulduggery scowled, at her.

"You do it all the time." Valkyrie stated with a cool ease.

"It suits me. But your sarcasm falls in third on my most hated things list." He replied.

"You keep a list?"

"Yes. First is Serpine." His voice shook with anger as he said the name of the person who had killed his wife, daughter, and eventually him. Valkyrie knew that even though Serpine was dead, Skulduggery hatred would never go away, and the fact pained her.

"Makes sense. What's second?" She said changing the topic from Serpine.

"Puppies."

"Puppies?" Valkyrie glanced at him to see if he was joking. It was apparent that he wasn't.

"That's what I said."

"But, puppies? Why?" She said with a small giggle.

"Have you ever woken up from meditating to find your thigh bone being gnawed and slobbered on by a puppy that buries it in front of your face, right out of your reach? And you cant move to get it because your leg is missing?" Skulduggery asked scathingly, as he picked up the last book.

"I can't say that I have." Valkyrie grinned and flopped down on the couch. "I guess it's one of the downsides to being a skeleton."

"Just one?"

Valkyrie smiled and opened the echostone case. Next to her, sat the glowing consciousness that remained of the late Gordon Edgley.

"My favorite niece! Valkyrie, how nice to see you!" Gordon said, a huge grin stretched across his face.

"And Skulduggery! Great to see you! What are you guys doing here?" Gordon questioned, his tone changed to more professional. "What great wisdom do you need from me?"

"What 'great wisdom'?" Skulduggery glanced at Gordon, who shrugged.

"It was spur of the moment. Anyway, what's going on?"

Valkyrie gave him a brief summary of what had happened that night, with Skulduggery only interrupting a few times to add a detail she had missed.

"Werewolves." Gordon gave a low whistle through his teeth. "You've got yourself pretty deep into this one, haven't you Skulduggery."

"I know. That's why we need to know everything about them possible."

"So you're asking me? I don't know much."

"But you wrote a book!" Valkyrie protested. "You must know _something_."

Gordon sighed. "A lot of the book I made up, the rest was a lot of speculation and myths from people. But I'll tell you what I know to be true."

Valkyrie hastily grabbed the pen and notepad Skulduggery had brought down with the books. Skulduggery's own was always with him, so he already had it pulled out.

"Werewolves, where to start? Legend says these mythical beasts were demons spawned from hate and malice. Some say it was punishment on a select group of Ancients, by the Faceless Ones. Others say they were created to be the Faceless Ones watchdogs and spies. But there is no doubt, the Faceless Ones were involved in their creation. In a way, Vampires and Werewolves are very similar. Both bite to infect and create more of their kind. Both shed their skins, at night for Vampires, and on full moon nights for Werewolves. In human form, both retain speed and strength. The only big difference is that Werewolves are living, while Vampires are dead." Gordon sighed just to pause before continuing. Valkyrie was eagerly scratching notes on what Gordon was saying.

"Werewolves hate anything good. They seek to destroy all light and happiness from this world. That is their main goal and purpose. They are amazing trackers, no matter where you are they can and will find you and track you down, if they have one of your personal belongings. People who make Werewolf enemies don't live long. That's all I know."

"That's it?" Valkyrie asked in disbelief.

"I told you I didn't know much. As I said before, not many people who make Werewolf enemies live long, so they can't tell you much about them." Gordon replied. "But there may be something the Vampires know that I don't. The two species have a truce and some even coexist together."

"Thank you, Gordon" Skulduggery Pleasant said, slowly rising to his feet.

"My pleasure. Stay safe, will you?"

"I always try." Skulduggery replied as Valkyrie shut the echostone's case, and Gordon faded slowly away. He turned to Valkyrie. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll be chasing Vampires and running from Werewolves."

"It seems to be a full-time job for both of us." She said with a light smile. The first sunlight was already peaking its fingers through the floor-length window drapes. "You should stay here today."

"I am, don't worry. Go get some sleep, you've got bags under your eyes."

"Thanks for reminding me." She slowly marched up the steps into her room, where she hit the bed and was fast asleep before she could even get under the covers.

A/N: Good or not good? That is the question and I want an answer. Reviews are what make the world go round, people! Do you want more words per chapter? More or less dialogue? Fletcherie or Valkaelan? Are the characters OOC? I want to become a better writer so I want to know! Thanks!

As always, your most sincere,

-F.


	3. Well Met in Torture

**I really hope that you people like what you're reading, but I don't know because you aren't giving me any reviews. So anyway, short chapter in a different place. I'm kind of depressed right now by the lack of reviews, so it might not be amazing. I'll go over it tomorrow and re-edit. Disclaimer: Since I am not Derek Landy, people, I obviously don't own this series. Enjoy!**

**The moonlight wafted in through a lone window, transforming the room into eerie shades of grey. A lone man, bound to the stone floor with chains, lay whimpering in the center of the room, features masked in shadow. Uncontrollable spasms rocked his body, making him cry out every so often, as his body willed him to transform, though the chains bound his magic. He was trapped, with no escape this time. He had fought bitterly against the chains for a while, but they had held fast, and he knew deep inside that his struggling was to no avail. Memories flashed through his mind. **

**The first was a time in his original life, where he had been a human child, growing up in the country. He had been a farm boy, helping his parents and sister with the chores around the house,. His perspective of the world then hadn't been huge; all he knew was the country and the neighboring town of Werkshire. Funnily enough, this memory was of his first kiss; with Mary behind the school. His senses were so much duller then, he reflected. The second memory was of his first transformation. The pain had been enormous, but his guardian, the wolf that changed him, had led him through. The third memory was of meeting a vampire. Caelan was an outcast of Vampire society, just like he was an outcast of his. They had become fast friends, but all of that didn't matter now that they were both about to die.**

**His head turned slowly around with a glower, as he heard the footsteps clicking on the floor behind him. A deep, guttural growl sounded from within his throat, a growl of fear, hatred, and defiance. The man standing behind him just smiled a wicked grin that hinted of insanity. **

** "Not giving up yet?" The man asked with a chuckle. "We'll see if you're not willing after two more nights of this."**

** The bound man only struggled harder to break free as a response. "I'll never help you, or your brainwashed followers!"**

** "Is that so, Jedith?" The man asked, stepping forward into the moonlight, but hiding his face from the light. Finely gloved hands took a small silver mirror out of his pocket and reflected some of it onto the Jedith's hand. Jedith howled in pain as the moonlight seared his flesh, leaving a hideous red burn where it had touched.**

"**Never!"**

"**That's the wrong answer." The man glanced coldly at Jedith's writhing form. "Remember, all your pain can end if you tell me where Skulduggery Pleasant is. That little girl of his, that you're so obsessed with, doesn't even have to be harmed. I'll even release you, if that's what it takes."**

"**You're lying."**

"**Am I? This could be your only chance to save the girl, what's her name? Oh yes, Valkyrie Cain, isn't it?"**

"**She doesn't mean anything to me!" Jedith roared.**

"**But you did promise your friend, Caelan, you'd protect her, before we had…dispatched of him."**

"**You mean murdered him." Rage coursed through Jedith's body as he said those words.**

"**He's not dead…yet." The man replied with a smirk. "We'll find Skulduggery eventually, it would just be easier if you told us now."**

"**Easier for who?" Jedith growled**

"**Both of us. Remember what I said, will you? If you feel like changing your mind, just tell us." The man's voice and footstep faded into the distance as he walked leisurely away, leaving Jedith alone with the shadows, once again.**

**Jedith's thoughts raced. He knew that he was able to stand a lot of torture, but how much? That was the question. He knew first hand that everybody had a breaking point, and the torture would only get more painful as he went along. He had also promised Caelan that he would take care of and watch out for Valkyrie Cain, when they came for him. But he wouldn't -no couldn't- betray someone to people as evil as they. Pain flashed through him again, chasing all thoughts away. He screamed, losing himself to the animal that lay beneath the surface of his mind. Stars popped through his vision, but the bodily change wouldn't come.**

**From another room, the man watched the proceedings with a hint of satisfaction.**

"**Will he break?" A old, voice, barely more than a whisper asked.**

"**He'll break with time." The man replied.**

"**If you haven't realized, fool, we don't have time. If we don't speed the process up, we might just lose the skeleton and our opportunity!" The voice, though still a whisper, was filled with anger at the man's incompetence. **

"**Yes, yes of course!" The man hastily replied. "We've already sent out our spies to search, and some very promising results have turned up."**

"**Good. Find him and bring him to me. Skulduggery and I have some… unfinished business." And evil laugh full of malevolence filled the chamber behind him as the man rushed out of the room to follow orders. Skulduggery Pleasant would soon be with in their grasp.**

**Like it? Review. Didn't like it? Review. Tell me your thoughts so I can revise my work and become a better author.**

**As always, but very depressed, yours truly,**

**F. F. Gurl**


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